At a glance:

  • Alice Burke will wear her father’s famous No. 3 guernsey as she prepares to embark on her first season in the AFLW.
  • Burke could potentially debut next fortnight against the Western Bulldogs; the side which her father coaches.
  • Nathan Burke played 323 games for St Kilda across a spectacular 17-season career. 

Alice Burke will wear her father’s famous No. 3 guernsey as she prepares to embark on her first season in the AFLW.

The 18-year-old was selected as St Kilda’s first father-daughter recruit in October and is currently shaping up for a Round 1 debut against the Western Bulldogs next fortnight.

“It was kind of an easy answer for me,” Burke told saints.com.au.

I’ve always looked up to my dad, so to be able to wear it too, it’s a reminder to stand for the same things that he stood for.

- Alice Burke

“Whenever he played he was always loyal and hardworking and determined, so it’s good for me to wear it because I feel like it’s a reminder to do the same things and work as hard as he did.

“I was a bit worried about expectations and if I wore it that I’d have to be another Nathan Burke, but I realised I’d be proud to wear the jumper either way, so I was always going to take it.

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“In a weird way, it’s also like a new start. I want to make it my own number now and my goal one day is that the No. 3, that’s Alice Burke’s number, not Nathan Burke’s number… I’ll steal it from him!”

Should Burke be selected for the Saints’ season opener next fortnight, she’ll come up against her father who is currently serving as senior coach of the Bulldogs’ AFLW side.

Nathan Burke forged an enduring legacy for the No. 3 across his glittering career for the Saints, which yielded three Trevor Barker Awards, four All-Australians and a place in both St Kilda’s Team of the Century and Hall of Fame.

Alice will potentially begin her AFLW journey on Friday January 29 against the Western Bulldogs at RSEA Park.

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